Cyr-To-Lat
Plugin Review
AI-ResearchedWhat is Cyr-To-Lat?
Cyr-To-Lat is a focused WordPress plugin that converts Cyrillic characters in post, page, and term slugs into Latin characters. This process, called transliteration, creates human-readable URLs from content originally written in Cyrillic scripts. Developed by Sergey Biryukov, this plugin has been actively maintained for 18 years, making it one of the most seasoned tools in the WordPress repository. It currently powers over 300,000 active installations and holds a 4.7 out of 5-star rating from 98 user reviews, with 87% of those ratings being five stars.
The plugin builds upon the original Rus-To-Lat plugin by Anton Skorobogatov and is sponsored by Blackfire. Its longevity and consistent updates—the latest version 7.0.2 was released on May 24, 2026—demonstrate a commitment to staying current with WordPress standards. This is not a flashy tool, but a reliable utility that solves a specific problem for multilingual site owners.
Key Features of Cyr-To-Lat
- Fully Editable Transliteration Table – You can add, remove, or edit any character pair, such as mapping ‘Я’ to ‘Ya’ or even ‘Пиво’ to ‘Beer’.
- Automatic Slug Conversion – Converts slugs for posts, pages, custom post types, and terms through explicit WordPress save paths and the REST/Gutenberg API.
- Bulk Background Conversion – Converts any number of existing slugs in background processes or via WP-CLI, without slowing down your admin area.
- Permalink Integrity Protection – Saves existing post and page permalinks, preventing broken links when you activate the plugin.
- Attachment File Name Transliteration – Automatically converts Cyrillic characters in uploaded file names to Latin characters.
- WooCommerce Compatibility – Supports product, product taxonomy, global attribute, local attribute, variation, and frontend cart slug flows without automatic migration of existing attributes.
- Multi-Script Support – Works with Russian, Belorussian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Serbian, Greek, Armenian, Georgian, Kazakh, Hebrew, and Chinese characters.
- WPML Official Compatibility – Works directly with the WPML multilingual plugin for seamless multilingual site management.
Who Should Use Cyr-To-Lat?
Cyr-To-Lat is designed for site owners and developers who manage WordPress sites with content in Cyrillic-based languages. The ideal user has a site that publishes in Russian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian, or any of the other 11 supported scripts. With 300,000+ active installs, the plugin serves a broad audience, from small blogs to WooCommerce stores selling products with Cyrillic names. A basic comfort level with WordPress admin panels is sufficient for standard use.
Advanced users, such as developers, will appreciate the editable transliteration table and the ability to define custom substitutions via the ctl_table filter. The plugin also offers WP-CLI support for bulk conversions, making it suitable for sites with thousands of existing posts. The 100% support resolution rate (12 resolved threads out of 12 in the last 2 months) indicates that even less technical users can get help quickly when needed.
Installation & Setup
Installation follows the standard WordPress method: upload the cyr2lat folder to the /wp-content/plugins/ directory and activate it through the Plugins menu. The plugin requires WordPress 6.0+ and PHP 7.4+, which covers nearly all modern hosting environments. For most users, activation is all that is needed—the plugin begins converting new slugs immediately without any configuration.
Support & Community
Support for Cyr-To-Lat is notably responsive. In the last 2 months, the plugin forum handled 12 open threads and resolved all 12, achieving a 100% resolution rate. This level of support is rare among plugins with 300,000+ installs. The rating breakdown reflects this reliability: 87% of the 98 ratings are five-star, while only 5% are one-star. Users can also join the plugin’s Telegram group for community-driven help and updates.
Beyond the forum, the plugin includes extensive documentation in its FAQ section, covering custom transliteration tables, locale redefinition, and title sanitization filters. Sergey Biryukov’s 18 years of maintenance mean that most common questions already have clear, code-based answers. For those needing deeper customization, the plugin provides hooks like ctl_pre_sanitize_title and ctl_locale to modify behavior without editing core files.
Pros & Cons
- With over 300,000 active installs and a 4.7/5 rating from 98 reviews, the plugin is widely trusted and highly rated by users.
- It features a fully editable transliteration table, allowing custom pairs like 'Пиво' => 'Beer', which is unique among similar plugins.
- 100% of its 12 support threads are resolved, indicating responsive and effective developer support.
- The plugin supports 12 language scripts (including Russian, Ukrainian, Greek, Hebrew, and Chinese) and is officially compatible with WPML.
- It can convert existing slugs in bulk via background processes or WP-CLI, preserving permalink integrity for posts and pages.
- The plugin does not automatically migrate existing WooCommerce attribute slugs, requiring manual intervention for those setups.
- Its functionality is limited to transliteration of Cyrillic and similar scripts, offering no broader SEO or URL optimization features.
- With only 12 total support threads, the community and documentation base may be too small for complex troubleshooting needs.
- The plugin relies on a predefined character set, so users needing transliteration for less common scripts may need to manually extend the table.
Technical Details
- Requires WordPress
- 6.0+
- Requires PHP
- 7.4+
- First Released
- 2008 (18+ years)
- Support (last 2 months)
- 12 threads — 100% resolved
Feature Tags
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, Cyr-To-Lat is completely free and available on WordPress.org. It has been actively maintained since its first release in 2008.
Over 300,000 active WordPress installations use Cyr-To-Lat. It holds a strong 4.7 out of 5 rating from 98 user ratings.
Cyr-To-Lat requires WordPress 6.0 or higher. It also requires PHP version 7.4 or later to run properly.
Yes, the plugin was last updated on May 24, 2026, and has been actively developed since its first release in 2008. The current version is 7.0.2.
Cyr-To-Lat requires PHP version 7.4 or higher. This ensures compatibility with modern hosting environments.
Support is excellent, with 12 out of 12 support threads resolved in the last 2 months, giving a 100% resolution rate. You can also get help via the official support forum or the Telegram group.
Yes, it works automatically after activation, converting Cyrillic slugs to Latin without any setup. Beginners can also customize the conversion table using simple code snippets provided in the FAQ.
It converts Cyrillic characters in post, page, and term slugs to Latin, and supports over 10 languages including Russian, Ukrainian, and Greek. You can edit the transliteration table, convert existing slugs via background processes or WP-CLI, and it works with WooCommerce and WPML.